pac5645 By Chris Williams: Bob Arum of Top Rank is really excited about his fighter Manny Pacquiao’s next fight against Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) on November 23rd at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China. The fight will be televised on pay per view in the United States and in China.

Arum is especially charged up about the idea of selling the fight to millions of Chinese on pay per view. This is a first for Arum and Pacquiao. Arum is selling the Pacquiao-Rios fight card for $5, and he’s hoping it’s a success. If so, this will be the beginning of many similar PPV fight cards to be marketed to the Chinese audiences.

Arum said to >esnewsreporting.com “I think it’s going to be a great, great fight, and the fact that it’s in China and it’s a different part of the world. But it’s a time suitable for the United States. We should have a tremendous audience. It’ll give millions of Chinese the opportunity to watch the fight.”

I hope that Arum has some other marketable fighters that he can target to the Chinese audiences because Pacquiao might be coming to the end of the line. He’s lost his last two fights, and the chances are fairly good that he could get knocked unconscious in this fight by Rios.

If that happens, I think there’s going to be some real soul-searching going on with Pacquiao and his team to decide whether it’s worth it to continue fighting. Without Pacquiao, I’m not sure if Arum can have the same kind of impact into the Chinese audiences.

Of course, Arum could start selling former two-time Olympic Gold medalist Zou Shiming’s fights to the Chinese audiences for $5 per pop, but there are still HUGE question marks over the head of Shiming about whether this guy has the talent to be anything more than possibly a fringe contender.

Right now, Shiming doesn’t look like he’s got the talent to become a world champion. We won’t know for sure for at least a couple of years unless Arum rushes Shiming into a title fight next year. If that happens, I don’t think it’ll go well for Shiming.